Finals notes

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Game 7 of NBA finals is fit for cliches

If ever there was a game fit for cliches, Game 7 of the NBA finals is it.

And the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers didn’t disappoint on Wednesday, with both sides offering up some of the most overworked axioms in sports.

“It’s for the marbles, it’s for everything, all out,” Boston’s Kevin Garnett said. “Juices flowing and they’ll continue to flow.”

Kobe Bryant, last year’s MVP of the finals, put in a bid for cliche MVP honors when asked if he enjoys the moment during big games.

“You’ve just got a job to do, you go out there and you do it, and then you can look back at it after the fact,” the Lakers guard said.

Boston coach Doc Rivers weighed in on appreciating the opportunity when it comes.

“You can never take for granted a season, a game, and especially a Game 7 of a finals,” he said. “You never know if and when you’re going to be back in that position, and so when you get in that position, you want to take advantage of it.”

In case anyone needed reminding about the situation, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, “We’re on our feet fighting for the seventh game.”

Boston’s Rajon Rondo added, “It’s do or die. Win or go home.”

His teammate, Ray Allen, vowed, “I want to do everything I can to leave it all on the floor.”

MEDITATE THIS: The Lakers planned to meditate before Game 7, just as they’ve done previously during the finals.

Informed of this, Boston’s Glen Davis said, “They meditate? What’s that?”

A helpful reporter explained to him that the team sits in the dark and concentrates on breathing and clearing their minds.

“For real? I’m going to try that,” Davis said. “If it’s what they do to get ready for the game, hey, let them find their lost remote.”

WORLD CUP UPSET: Switzerland upset tournament favorite Spain 1-0 Wednesday in World Cup soccer, which wasn’t good news to Lakers center Pau Gasol of Barcelona.

The loss ended Spain’s run of 12 straight wins and handed the Spanish just their second loss in 50 games.

“I woke up, I couldn’t sleep anymore, it’s 8:30, turned the game on, and the next thing I know we were down 1-0 and struggling and scrambling to score a goal,” Gasol said.

“Not the way that we expected our team to start a championship, of course, and it puts them in a position where they have to win probably two games they have left against Honduras and Chile.”

Kobe Bryant is a huge soccer fan, having played while growing up in Italy. But he said he hasn’t watched any World Cup games yet.

CHOOSING KOBE: No offense, LeBron, but Kevin Garnett thinks Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA.

“He makes his team go,” Garnett said. “He’s their life, does multiple things in the game, and every time you speak of Kobe, you speak of excellence, you think of excellence. Class act, plays with a vengeance and tenaciousness, well-respected around the league. I can keep going and going.”

NOTES: The NBA finals have gone to a deciding seventh game for the 17th time, and just the second since 1994. In the previous 16 Game 7s, the home team is 13-3. … The last time the Celtics and Lakers played a Game 7 against each other was in 1984, when Boston won 111-102 at the old Boston Garden. It was the first of three meetings between the teams in the finals over the next four years. … The team with the overall rebounding edge has won the first six games. The Lakers had the edge and won Games 1, 3 and 6. The Celtics dominated the boards and won Games 2, 4 and 5.

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Phil Jackson resists thoughts of coaching future

Phil Jackson’s mind was focused on Game 7 of the NBA finals, not on his future with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He’s in the final year of his contract, with no word about a possible extension.

“I’ve resisted thinking about that and talking about it for the most part,” he said Thursday night before the finale between the Lakers and Boston Celtics. “It really isn’t important what happens after this, it’s just about this game right now.”

Seeking his 11th NBA le as a coach, Jackson said he would know after the game whether the outcome influences his future.

“I won’t tell you then, that’s for sure,” he told laughing reporters.

If Jackson, who turns 65 in September, decides to retire he was reminded it could have been his last pregame news conference ever.

“Well, someone said I might never have to speak to you again after this night,” he said. “I said that would never happen, I never could be that fortunate.”

QUIETING DOWN: The talkative Boston Celtics sure have been quiet heading into Game 7.

“We’re getting through our shootarounds quicker the last two days,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Our team meetings were quick because you didn’t have to say, ‘Excuse me, please, can we’—none of that was done. That’s usually a good sign for us.”

He said he can never know for sure how his team is going to play.

“They’ve been very focused, I will say that, over the last two days, and that for a coach is all you ask for,” he said.

MOMENT OF TRUTH: Phil Jackson believes every game has what he calls multiple moments of truth that reveal what a game is going to be like or a sign that changes everything.

When those times come against the Celtics, the Lakers coach doesn’t want to see his team revert to whatever rote play they’re used to.

“You can’t go to a comfort zone and just go play basketball as you would at a practice that’s the fourth day after you’ve played three consecutive games, three out of four nights,” he said. “You have to do something special.

“We had multiple situations in which we did that the other night (a Game 6 win). We had many situations we didn’t do that in Boston in Games 4 and 5.”

BRIEF BREAK: The longest possible NBA finals means the shortest possible turnaround until the draft.

There will be only a week between the time David Stern hands out the Larry O’Brien trophy in Los Angeles and calls the name of the No. 1 pick, likely Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall, next Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“It’s scary to know that the draft is close,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said before Game 6. “I hadn’t thought about that at all.”

Rivers said Thursday he only found out the other day that Boston has the 19th pick.

To help get everyone ready, NBA TV will run draft preview shows Saturday (Eastern Conference) and Sunday (West). Former Nets coach Lawrence Frank will join the studio team to break down each team’s needs.

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Lakers win 16th NBA le; Jackson could return

With his record 11th NBA championship secured, Phil Jackson was evasive about his future with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He’s in the final year of his contract, with no word about a possible extension. He had said that if the Lakers won their second straight le, it would improve his chances of returning. He turns 65 in September.

“It does improve my chances,” Jackson said after the Lakers’ 83-79 victory over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. “That’s a wonderful thing. That’s as much as I’ll talk about it.”

During the trophy presentation, Jackson said he would take some time to mull his future and decide in a week.

Kobe Bryant publicly appealed for Jackson to come back while accepting his finals MVP award for the second consecutive year.

“He knows how bad I want him back. I’ve told him that,” he said. “I’ve been openly blunt about that and told him how much I want him back. Let’s go for it again. Let’s go for it again.”

CELEBRATING A LE: The Lakers will celebrate their 16th NBA le with a parade on Monday.

The players and their families will board a customized float at Staples Center and wind their way two miles down South Figueroa Street toward the campus of Southern California, ending at the school’s Galen Center.

Players will interact with fans from the float that will be equipped with audio. Lakers officials said that will help mitigate anticipated pedestrian and traffic congestion, while also relieving security, sanitation and other public services that were required last year.

In 2009, the privately funded parade and rally attended by more than 95,000 people was held at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Although the Lakers said they’re hosting the parade, it wasn’t immediately clear who is footing the bill this year.

ARTEST CONFESSES: When Ron Artest played for the Indiana Pacers for parts of five seasons, he admitted he didn’t always give his best effort.

Having won his first NBA le, Artest expressed regret for his subpar performances and at ude while with the Pacers.

“When I was younger, I bailed out on my Indiana team,” he said Thursday night. “I feel sometimes like a coward when I see those guys, because it’s like, ‘Man, I’m on the Lakers and I had a chance to win with you guys,’ and I feel almost like a coward.”

Artest’s colorful career has been filled with second chances.

He was suspended for 73 games after charging into the stands and throwing punches when a fan threw beer on him during a game in Detroit in 2004.

SAD FACES: As jubilant as the Lakers’ locker room was, it was just the opposite in the Celtics’ room.

“There were a lot of tears. A lot of tears,” Ray Allen said. “This is probably one of the hardest feelings that I’ve felt in my lifetime.”

Emotions churned for Glen Davis, who finished with six points and nine rebounds in nearly 21 minutes.

“I feel like I wanted to cry. I feel like I wanted to be mad,” he said. “I’m just trying to get in a positive mind and think it’s going to help me as a player. I’m blessed. Most guys don’t have the chance that I’ve had being able to play in the finals twice in three years. Hopefully next year we can be that same team and go back.”

FREE AGENT MUSINGS: With superstar free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh hitting the market on July 1, there’s a possibility that two of them could end up on the same team.

“I don’t want to think about that,” Kobe Bryant said. “I don’t want to think about playing against both of them at the same time. I want to enjoy this for a little bit.”